David Cameron says he has a mandate to pursue EU reform following the Conservatives' general election victory. The PM, who will be hoping his majority government

The prime minister has said Britain would resist any move towards a European Army and that he wants to free British police forces from EU interference. He has also ruled out Britain joining the euro.But he has placed less emphasis in recent years on demanding changes to EU social policy, such as the maximum 48-hour working week, agency workers, maternity leave and non-discrimination rules.

The official UK government position is that a referendum will be held by the end of 2017 but Downing Street sources have said: "If we can do it earlier we will."There is speculation David Cameron is planning to hold the vote in 2016 to avoid a clash with French and German elections in 2017.The prime minister wants treaty change but even if the referendum was held in 2017 there may not be enough time to legally incorporate any reforms into a treaty and it would have to be done at a later stage.An early referendum would anger Eurosceptics who believe it would not allow enough time to make the case for exit or negotiate any meaningful concessions."A rushed process would severely undermine the chances to secure a significant deal that both British business and voters could support and would waste the opportunity of a lifetime," Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Business for Britain told Breitbart London.

The question is always crucial in any referendum and there is already a debate about what it should be. The Draft European Union (Referendum) Bill, published by the Conservatives in 2013, proposed this form of words: "Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union?"

Some thought that leaned too far towards the status quo, encouraging a yes vote, and the Electoral Commission said it was not clear and direct enough. The watchdog proposed this form of words instead: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?"